Proper communication is fundamental to helping your family have a good experience in training your dog. A significant problem in training a family dog is the fact that individual family members will often give different signals to your dog. Family members may use identical words but their verbal tones may vary which causes your dog to feel confused. Confusion can lead to erratic or non-reponsive behavior since your dog is not sure what he is supposed to do.
Reprimanding your dog for not obeying a command he does not understand produces further confusion. Confusion such as this can lead to aggresive behavior.
Clicker training is an excellent way to eliminate confusion. Just about every member of the family can comprehend the principles of clicker training. A clicker improves communication and motivation because it helps your dog clearly understand the task he is expected to accomplish. Since your dog can trust a clicker to be consistent he is motivated to learn to follow the commands of anyone using a clicker.
The emphasis of clicker training is to reward the behavior you desire. If you want your dog to sit you wait until he is sitting properly and then give him a reward. You focus on the behavior you want and you ignore the behavior you don’t want.
As soon as your dog performs the way you want you immediately click the clicker. A treat is given immediately after the click. This reinforces the desired task.
Do not misunderstand, you do not want to allow bad behavior. You stop the behavior you do not want and then reward for the correct behavior. If your dog tries to jump on the sofa you would stop him and when all four paws are on the floor you would click your clicker and give him a treat. Whenever you notice your dog performing the correct activity you give a click and a treat. It will soon become apparent, to your dog, that a click and a treat follows the behavior you want. Since your dog wants the treat that comes after a click he becomes an active participant in his own training as he finds ways to please you.
A hand signal or verbal phrase can be added when a behavior is well established. This will become the cue your dog will eventually follow when you want him to perform a certain task. Your cue must apply to one specific task or it will not work. Your dog needs to learn to associate a specific cue to a specific action.
Once you have a cue you will use it before using the clicker and giving a treat. When the cue is well understood you no longer have to follow it with a click and a treat. At this stage your praise and attention will be a reward.
As mentioned earlier your family can all participate in learning how to
clicker train your dog. Children take to clicker training very easily.
A clicker is an excellent training tool when used appropriately. A clicker can add a lot to your dog obedience training and helps in training your dog to do
tricks. Clicker training, as well as other dog training programs, takes time, patience and consistency. Clicker training is a fun way to train your dog.
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